THE LITERARY LABORS 


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AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY AT THE COMMEMORATION 
OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF TFIE 
DECEASE OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS FOUNDER AND FIRST 
PRESIDENT 

April 17, 1890 

BY 

G. BROWN GOODE 

Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 


From the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 

Vol. xxviii, 1809 



PHILADELPHIA 





V 





THE LITERARY LABORS 


OF 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 


AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY AT THE COMMEMORATION 
OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
DECEASE OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS FOUNDER AND FIRST 
PRESIDENT 


April 17, 1890 


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The Literary Labors of Benjamin Franklin. 

BY G. BROWN GOODE, PH.D., LL.D. 

When the New World sent Franklin to Europe, England 
and France received him, without question, as the equal of 
their own greatest men. Lavoisier, Turgot and Raynal, Buffion, 
Rousseau and Condorcet were his admirers, Gibbon, Hume, 
and Adam Smith, Karnes, Robertson, Bentham and Priestly, 
his friends, while to the poet Cowper praise by him atoned for 
all the carpings of the critics. 

When he first met Yoltaire, in the hall of the French 
Academy of Sciences, the two old men saluted affectionately, 
amid the tears and the applause of the spectators, and it was 
proclaimed through Europe that Sophocles and Solon had 
embraced. 

His colleague, John Adams, by no means the most ardent 
of his admirers, said of him : 

“ His reputation was more universal than that of Leibnitz 
or Newton, Frederick the Great or Yoltaire, and his character 
more beloved and esteemed than any or all of them. Newton 
had astonished, perhaps, forty or fifty men in Europe; for 
not more than that number, probably, at any one time had 
read him and understood him, and these being held in admi¬ 
ration in their respective countries, at the head of the philos¬ 
ophers, had spread among scientific people a mysterious won¬ 
der at the genius of this, perhaps the greatest man that ever 
lived. But his fame was confined to men of letters. The 
common people cared nothing about such a recluse philosopher. 
Leibnitz’s name was still more confined. Frederick was hated 
by one-half Europeans much as Napoleon is. Yoltaire was 
considered as a vain and profligate wit, and not esteemed by 
anybody, though admired by all who knew his works. But 
Franklin’s fame was universal. His name was familiar to 

REPRINTED FROM PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC., VOL. XXVIII., JUNE 5 , 1890 . 


2 


government and people; to kings, courtiers, nobility, clergy, 
and philosophers, as well as to plebeians, to such a degree that 
there was scarcely a peasant or a citizen, coachman or footman, 
a lady’s chambermaid or a scullion in the kitchen who was not 
familiar with his name, and who did not consider him as a 
friend of human kind. When they spoke of him, they seemed 
to think he was to restore the golden age.” 

In a nation of three millions, he was first in every field of 

• c 

action, as printer, publisher, editor, and humorist—in political 
economy, administration and statesmanship, in science, philoso¬ 
phy, diplomacy, and in literature. He stands to-day a colossal 
figure in the world’s memory, his popularity in no wise les¬ 
sened by lapse of time, and Americans still wonder at his 
stature, seemingly unable to measure the extent of his great¬ 
ness. In Europe he is still thought the first of Americans, the 
most perfect embodiment of the spirit and genius of his coun¬ 
try, and its one great writer who lived before the days of 
Irving. 

His easy-going freedom of speech, his liberal views on theo¬ 
logical questions and his irreverence, coupled with a certain 
coarseness, almost Eabelaisian, in his early writings, have 
lessened his popularity among educated Americans. Then, too, 
the subjects of which he wrote—the current political issues, 
the manners and morals of every-day people, common abuses 
and how to do away with them, passing events and their 
lessons, household economies, and the like—although they gave 
him a great popular audience, were not of the kind best fitted 
to call forth the admiration of his literary contemporaries. 

His choice of subjects was, nevertheless, the best evidence 
of his preeminence. “ Great men are more distinguished by 
range and extent than by originality. A great man does not 
wake up on some fine morning and say, ‘1 am full of life, I 



3 


will go to sea, and find an Antarctic continent; to-day I will 
square the circle; I will ransack botany, and find a new food 
for man ; I have a new architecture in my mind; I foresee a 
new mechanic power.’ No; but he finds himself in the river 
of thoughts and events, forced onward by the ideas and neces¬ 
sities of his contemporaries. He stands where all the eyes of 
man look one way, and their hands all point in the direction 
in which he should go. The church has reared him amidst 
rites and pomps, and he carries out the advice which her music 
gave him, and builds a cathedral needed by her chants 
and processions. He finds a war raging; it educates him by 
trumpet, in barracks, and he betters the instruction. He finds 
two counties groping to bring coal, or flour, or fish, from the 
place of production to the place of consumption, and he hits 
on a railroad. Every master has found his materials collected, 
and his power lay in his sympathy with his people,, and in his 
love of the materials he wrought in.” * 

The spirit of the hour was Franklin’s constant inspiration, 
and his writings were a legitimate result, the natural outgrowth 
of his activity in all matters of public concern. Admirable 
in themselves, their chief interest is nevertheless due to the 
fact that they form so complete a record of the deeds and the 
personal character of their author. 

“ Though he was a voluminous writer and one of the 
great masters of English expression, Franklin wrote habitu¬ 
ally with a single eye to immediate practical results. He 
never posed for posterity. Of all the writings to which he 
mainly owes his present fame, it would be difficult to name 
one which he gave to the press himself or of which he saw the 
proof. Yet he never wrote a dull line nor many which the 
century of time has robbed of their interest or value. What- 


* Emerson. 





4 


ever he wrote seems to have been conceived upon a scale which 
embraced the whole human race, as well as the individual or 
class to whom it was specifically addressed, the one evidence of 
true greatness which never deceives nor misleads. If he wrote 
to his wife, it was, more or less, a letter from every husband to 
his wife; if to his daughter, it was a letter that any daughter 
would be pleased to receive from her father; if to a philoso¬ 
pher or statesman, there was always that in the manner or 
matter of it which time cannot stale, and which will be read 
by every statesman and philosopher with the sort of interest 
they would have felt had it been addressed personally to 
them.” * 

The gathering of “ Frankliniana ” has become of late years 
a favorite pursuit of book lovers, and there are many excellent 
private collections besides the magnificent assemblages of his 
printed books, manuscripts and imprints in the public libraries 
of Boston, Hew York, Philadelphia, and Washington. The 
pioneer in this movement was Prof. Justin Winsor, who, in 
1869, established a Franklin Alcove in the Boston Public 
Library, for the reason, as he said at the time, 11 that Franklin 
is to Boston what Shakespeare is to England.” 

A complete library of Frankliniana, including not only the 
books by him and about him, but also the products of his 
press, would embrace nearly two thousand separate units. Such 
a collection would possess a very great value in money, f 

Several bibliographies of Franklin have been printed. One 

* Bigelow’s Preface to Franklin’s Works. 

fOne of his imprints, the translation of Cicero’s “ Cato Major,” in good condition, has 
sold for $200. A complete series of “ Poor Richard ” would he almost priceless. Of the 
twenty-six numbers, the Pennsylvania Historical Society had, when Ford’s book was 
printed, only sixteen ; the Lenox Library, seventeen ; the Library Company of Philadel¬ 
phia, twenty-one; the Congressional Library, thirteen; and the American Philosophical 
Society, one, which, however, is the first. Of the issues of 1734 and 1735 none are in the 
possession of any of these libraries. 


5 


of the most serviceable is that of Sparks in the latter part of his 
tenth volume. Another is the admirable one of Lindsay Swift, 
printed seven years ago by the Boston Public Library. The 
latest and fullest is the “Franklin Bibliography,” of Paul Lei¬ 
cester Ford, a very stout octavo volume of nearly five hundred 
pages, which is intended mainly for the collector and is a 
minute and exhaustive catalogue of the variations of every 
possible bibliographical unit. 

In this are cited nine hundred and ninety-seven titles, ar¬ 
ranged as follows: 

I. Books and pamphlets wholly or partly written by Franklin. 1-600 

II. Periodicals and serials containing writings of Franklin_601-618 

III. State Papers and Treaties, in forming which Franklin aided. 619-633 


IV. Works containing letters of Franklin... 639-709 

V. Pseudonyms used by Franklin. 710-784 


Works relating to, written to, or dedicated to Franklin.790-1002 

In addition to these there are named in the a r ompanying 
Reference List other publications, relating in \ rt to Frank¬ 
lin, to the number of..... .. 508 

Of the six hundred titles given by Ford in his list of books 
wholly or partly written by Franklin, there are only about 
ninety which represent distinct efforts of authorship, even 
though prefaces, notes in books written by others, and broad¬ 
sides be counted. The remaining titles relate to reprints, 
advertisements, and hypothetical publications of which no 
copies are known to exist. 

Franklin’s literary remains may be classified as follows: 

1. The Autobiography—from 1706 to 1757. 

2. Poor Richard’s Almanac, in twenty-six annual issues, 1732-58, culmi¬ 

nating in “ Father Abraham’s Speech at the Auction.” 

3. Essays upon Manners, Morals and the Science of Life, including the 

so-called Bagatelles, in all sixty titles or more. 

4. Tracts and Papers upon Political Economy, Finance, and the Science 

of Government; in all about forty titles. 








6 


5. Essays and Tracts, Historical and Political, concerning the American 

Revolution and the events which immediately preceded and fol¬ 
lowed—1747-1790. 

6. Scientific Papers—from 1737-1790; in all 221 titles and nearly 900 

pages, octavo. 

7. Correspondence, Diplomatic, Domestic and Literary—1724-90 ; in all, 

some twelve hundred letters, while many still remain unpublished. 

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

The autobiography, prepared between the ages of sixty-five 
and eighty-three, is one of the most remarkable books ever 
written. It was intended for his son, and certain intimate 
friends, and was not published until after the death of its 
author, and was never printed as it had been written until a 
few years ago, when, in 1874, Mr. John Bigelow issued a cor¬ 
rect version from the original manuscript, which by marvelous 
good fortune had fallen into his hands, while Minister at the 
Court of France. 

The autobiography has passed through at least one hundred 
and seventy editions, and has been translated into German, 
French, Danish, and Spanish. 

To understand it properly, the reader should use Bigelow’s 
edition and none other—for its editor, with admirable skill, 
has supplemented Franklin’s own narrative, complete in itself 
up to 1757, by a series of extracts from his letters and other 
writings, so that it is told in the philosopher’s own words, and 
is complete almost to the day of his death. 

During the twenty-eight years of his residence abroad, from 
1758 to 1785, he was in constant correspondence with the 
governments he. represented, and with his friends, who were 
numerous and to whom he wrote at length and with great 
freedom. 

“ To his protracted expatriation,” writes Bigelow, “ we owe 


7 


this fact, that there is scarcely an important incident in Frank¬ 
lin’s life which is not described by himself in his memoirs, or 
in his correspondence; and it is to this vast treasury of ster¬ 
ling English, which seems to have been almost miraculously 
preserved from incalculable perils by sea and by land, that the 
legion of his biographers have been indebted for what has 
most contributed to render their writing attractive. 

“ I am not aware that any other eminent man has left so 
complete a record of his own life. The part of which, from 
the nature of things, could not be preserved in correspondence 
—his youth and early manhood ; his years of discipline and 
preparation—has been made as familiar as household words to 
at least three generations, in those imperishable pages which, 
in the full maturity of his faculties and experiences he pre¬ 
pared at the special in-tance of his friends, Le Yeillard, Roche- 
foucault, and Vaughan. From the period when that fragment 
closes until his death, we have a continuous, I might almost 
say, a daily record of his life, his labors, his anxieties, and his 
triumphs, from his own pen, and written when all the incidents 
and emotions they awakened were most fresh and distinct in 
his mind.* 


THE ALMANAC. 

Franklin’s Almanac is interesting in itself, but far more so 

in its effects on the historv of American letters and American 

«/ 

life. It was the beginning of our American periodical litera¬ 
ture, the first successful serial, the pioneer of the great army 
of magazines and reviews which, even now, stand in the place 
of public libraries to the great majority of our people. 

. Franklin’s was not a monthly, or even a quarterly ; it was 
an annual magazine of instructive and entertaining literature. 

* “ Life,” p. 6. 




8 




He was the most experienced of American journalists, the 
editor and principal contributor of the New England Courant , 
when, in 1723, it threw Boston into tumult, and, in 1729, 
founder of the Pennsylvania Gazette , for more than half a 
century the leading newspaper in the New World. He fully 
appreciated the possibilities of periodical literature in America 
and established, in 1741, a monthly called “ The General 
Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Prov¬ 
inces in America,” * an effort which failed because the country 
was not yet ready. 

The Almanac was to the people of that day, what the week¬ 
lies and monthlies have become to their great-grandchildren. 
Franklin began to print it in 1732, and it soon became a neces¬ 
sity in every household from New England to the Carolinas, 
and made the name of “ Poor Richard ” famous all over the 
world. Within twenty-five years, at least a quarter of a mil¬ 
lion copies of this treasury of homely wisdom had been dis¬ 
tributed throughout the colonies. 

Franklin wished that his Almanac should be a vehicle for 
conveying instruction among the common people, who bought 
scarcely any other books. He, therefore, filled all the little 
spaces between the remarkable days in the calendar with prov¬ 
erbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugal¬ 
ity as the means of procuring wealth and thereby securing 
virtue; “it being,” as he said, “ more difficult for a man in 
want to act always honestly than it is hard for an empty sack 
to stand upright.” Finally he brought together in a connected 
fabric, all the best of the sayings of Poor Richard for twenty- 
five years, in the form of the harangue of a wise old man to 
the people attending an auction. “ Father Abraham’s Speech,” 
“The Way to Wealth,” or “La Science du Bonhomme 

* Six numbers of this periodical were printed. 



9 


Biehard,” as this composition was variously called, touched by 
its simple wisdom, responsive chords in the hearts of all 
simple-minded people. 

Its influence was amazingly great. No one was better able 
than Franklin to judge of its extent, no one less likely to 
exaggerate it. 

Writing about it, in 1788, he said : 

“ The piece, being universally approved, was copied in all 
the newspapers of the continent; reprinted in Britain on 
broadsides, to be stuck up in houses; two translations were 
made of it in French, and great numbers bought by the clergy 
and gentry to distribute gratis among their poor parishioners 
and tenants. In Pennsylvania, as it discouraged useless 
expense in foreign superfluities, some thought it had its share 
in producing that growing plenty of money which was observ¬ 
able for several years after its publication.” * 

Ford’s bibliography shows that since it was written, one 
hundred and twenty-three years ago, “Father Abraham’s 
Speech ” has been reprinted about three times for each year. 
Seventy or more separate editions in English have appeared, 
fifty-six in French, eleven in German, and some in Italian. It 
was printed in Danish at Copenhagen (1801, 1820); in Catalan 
at Montroulez (1820) and Morlais (1832); in Greek in Paris 
(1823); in Dutch at The Hague (1828); in Portuguese in Paris 
(1828) ; in Bohemian at Teshen (1838); in Welsh in London 
(1839); in Spanish at Caracas in Venezuela (1858); in Bus- 
sian at St. Petersburg (1809), and in Chinese at Peking (in 
1884), as well as in Polish and the phonetic characters. 

Ford is quite justified in saying that it has been oftener printed 
and translated than any other book from an American pen. 

* Autobiography, Bigelow edition, i, 250. 


10 


THE ESSAYS. 

Franklin’s essays represented his most finished work. Among 
them indeed are the only compositions written with a dis¬ 
tinctly artistic purpose. Many years after his death a small, 
thin portfolio was found among his papers. On its cover was 
written “ BAGATELLES,” and within were fifteen or more 
of his own favorite essays. These were prepared for the enter¬ 
tainment of that brilliant circle of friends in Paris, in whose 
meetings the venerable author took so much delight. Among 
them were many of his most graceful and witty productions 
—such as “ The Morals of Chess,” “ The Dialogue between 
Franklin and the Gout ” and “The Ephemera.” 

The Bagatelles were written when he was over seventy. In 
some of his satires, half a century earlier in date, as for instance 
“The Speech of Mistress Polly Baker,” he exhibited equal 
force and skill, though a wit less mellow and refined and a 
style less polished through familiarity with French literature. 

His essay writing began when he contributed to his brother’s 
newspaper in Boston a series of satirical letters signed “ Silence 
Dogood”—which are highly praised by those who have read 
them. “ So well,” says McMaster, “ did the lad catch the spirit, 
the peculiar diction, the humor of his model, the Spectator , that 
he seems to have written with a copy of Addison open before 
him.” 

Seven years later he prepared for a Philadelphia newspaper, 
The Mercury , a series of essays under the title of “ The Busy 
Body.” This was his first effort in a strictly literary direction. 
Some admirer has described them as being written “ after the 
manner of the Spectator , but more readable.” 

Although the critic of to-day may not fully agree with this 
judgment, he cannot fail to be pleased with the graceful, easy 


11 


flow of the words, and at the same time, interested in the evi¬ 
dences of the jonng printer’s extensive and intelligent ac¬ 
quaintance with the best of English books. 

After he became owner of the Pennsylvania Gazette he 
wrote for it essays in the same vein, many of which have been 
reprinted in recent editions of his writings. 

Some of the essays were humorous or satirical, others re¬ 
lated to religious and moral subjects and the economy of life, 
others still to the current events of the day. Among them was 
an admirable exposition of what was then known about earth¬ 
quakes ; and this, published in 1737, was his first contribution 
to scientific literature. 

When he was living in England he constantly wrote for the 
press, and among his productions at this time were a number 
of papers, which although an essential part of his political 
writings, should also be included in that carefully-edited col¬ 
lection of Franklin’s essays for which the world has been 
expectantly waiting for a hundred years. Among the. best are 
the “ Eeceipt for Diminishing a Great Empire,” and the 
“ Kemarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” writ¬ 
ten in Paris a few years later, which rank among the most 
brilliant of political satires. 

HIS DOMESTIC AND LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE. 

Franklin was the brightest and most charming of corre¬ 
spondents, and there is not one of his letters which is in the 
least degree dull or formal. 

Over 1200 are printed by Bigelow, and they make up at 
least nine-tenths of the bulk of his literary remains. Many 
of them are little essays, and should be included in every 
edition of his short papers. In no connection are they more 


12 


readable than as arranged by Mr. Bigelow* to form a part of 
the autobiography. “ To be fully understood and appreciated,” 
writes Bigelow, “ they (as well as all the rest of his writings) 
should be read in chronological order and by the light of cur¬ 
rent events, for every one of them was as much the product 
of its time and circumstances as the fruits and flowers of a 
garden are of their respective seasons.” 

Though the signature is always “B. Franklin,” the writer 
is sometimes the statesman, sometimes the shrewd, practical 
tradesman, sometimes the philosopher, sometimes the inventor 
concerned with mechanical details—now the philanthropist, 
now the wily diplomat, again the loving husband and parent, 
interested above all things in the affairs of his own little fam¬ 
ily, again the brilliant man of the world, gossiping with 
% 

Madame Helvetius or the Abbe Morellet. 

“ Iiis letters,” said John Foster, “ abound in tokens of benev¬ 
olence, sparkling not unfrequently with satiric pleasantry, but 
of a bland, good-natured kind, arising in the most easy, natu¬ 
ral manner, and thrown off with admirable simplicity and 
brevity of expression. There are short discussions relating to 
various arts and conveniences of life, plain instructions for 
persons deficient in cultivation, and the means for it; condo¬ 
lences on the death of friends, and frequent references, in an 
advanced stage of the correspondence, to his old age and . 
approaching death. Moral principles and questions are some¬ 
times considered and simplified; and American affairs are 
often brought in view, though not set forth in the diplomatic 
style.” 

It would seem impossible that the man who wrote at times 
so seriously and devoutly could have been also the author of 
the so-called “ Suppressed Letters.” Between the ages of fifteen 

* Bigelow’s “ Franklin,” i, p. 21. 


13 


and eighty-five, however, a human character has time for 
many transformations. 

TREATISES UPON POLITICAL ECONOMY. 

At the age of twenty-three, in 1729, Franklin published his 
“ Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of Paper 
Money ”—perhaps the earliest treatise on finance and currency 
written in America. 

This pamphlet was written at a time of public crisis, and for 
a definite purpose, which was successful. It was the first of a 
series of political essays, published from time to time in the 
sixty-two years of life which remained to its author—each 
with some useful end in view, and each without exception 
productive of some definite result. 

Edmond Burke was wont to say that when Franklin ap¬ 
peared before the British Parliament, he was like “ a master 
examined before a parcel of school-boys,” and Charles Fox 
declared that the ministry on that occasion “ were mere dwarfs 
in the hand of a master.” 

Persuasive and convincing as were his spoken words, the 
power of the man was even more evident when he took up his 
pen to write upon topics of public interest. His political 
papers, however, have little meaning at the present time 
except to students familiar with the history of the days to 
which they belong, though read in connection with the story of 
his life they have a very great interest of their own. 

In 1751 appeared “Observations Concerning the Increase of 
Mankind and the Peopling of Countries ”—to which it would 
appear that Adam Smith in later years was indebted for sug¬ 
gestions, and which led Malthus to write his great “ Essay on 
Population.” 

Franklin wrote other useful treatises, “ On the Laboring 


14 


Poor,” on “The Principles of Trade,” on “Luxury, Idleness 
and Industry,” on war, privateering and the Court of the Peers, 
and many kindred topics. None of his economical treatises 
were so original or so influential as the two which were 
first written. The last in the list, however, “ On the Slave 
Trade,” although finished only twenty-four days before his 
death and at the age of eighty-five, is as full of vigor and fire 
as his best efforts of a quarter of a century previous. It con¬ 
tains the speech of Mehemet Ibrahim in the Divan of Algiers, 
which Lord Jeffrey declared was riot surpassed by any of the 
pleasantries of 4rbuthnot or Swift. 

POLITICAL WRITINGS. 

Franklin’s first political treatise was written in 1747. 

The war between Great Britain and France, which was at 
that time in progress, was thought to have brought the Amer¬ 
ican colonies into great danger, and the governor of Pennsyl¬ 
vania anxiously labored to prevail upon the Quaker Assembly 
to pass a militia law and to make other provisions for the 
security of the province. To further this project, Franklin 
wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled “Plain Truth,” which 
had a sudden and surprising effect, and resulted in a few weeks 
in the organization of a colonial militia of over ten thousand 
men. This was the beginning of the conversion of the inhabi¬ 
tants of Pennsylvania from the Quaker doctrine of submission 
to that of defensive warfare, and had a most important influ¬ 
ence upon the future of America.* 

* Bigelow says of this pamphlet: 

“ Substituting the words ‘ United States ’ for Pennsylvania, it is as timely to-day as 
when it was written. Though we are at peace with all nations, we have many times as 
many lives and many times as much property exposed, while our defenses are relatively 
inferior to those which Franklin denounced nearly a century and a half ago as unpar- 
donably deficient” (Bigelow’s “Franklin,” Vol. ii, p. 39). 


15 


“ Plain Truth ” was followed by several other tracts in re¬ 
lation to the struggle between Pennsylvania and the Propri¬ 
etary Government in the hands of the Penn family. The most 
influential was that called “ Cool Thoughts on the Present 
Situation of our Public Affairs,” printed in 1764, which was a 
masterly argument in favor of a change from Proprietary to a 
Royal Government. 

During his residence in England before the Revolution, and 
in France during its continuance and afterwards, Franklin 
wrote much. One of the most important of his early papers 
was that printed in London in 1760, entitled “ The Interest of 
Great Britain in Regard to Her Colonies,” a protest against the 
proposal that Great Britain should give up Canada to the 
French, and receive instead the Island of Guadaloupe in the 
West Indies. 

So strong a paper was this that Burke, in replying to it, said 
of its author: “ He is clearly the ablest, the most ingenuous, 
and the most dexterous of those who have written upon the 
question, and we may therefore conclude that he has said 
everything in the best manner that the case would bear.” 

These, however, together with his more extensive treatises 
upon the condition of affairs in the new Republic, belong to 
the statesman Franklin, rather than to Franklin the man of 
letters. Together with his diplomatic correspondence they 
make up fully half of his published works. 

SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS. 

Franklin’s scientific writings were voluminous. Sparks re¬ 
printed 63 papers on electricity, filling 302 pages, and 157 on 
philosophical subjects, making 578 pages—in all 220 letters 
and 880 pages—which is a remarkable showing for a man so 
constantly occupied with private and public business. 


16 


His scientific papers are written in a style peculiar to their 
author—lucid, convincing, never wearisome. “A singular feli¬ 
city of induction guided all his researches, and. by very small 
means he established very grand truths. The style and manner 
of his publications on electricity are almost as worthy of admi¬ 
ration as the doctrine they contain. He has endeavored to re¬ 
move all mystery and obscurity from the subject. He has 
written equally for the uninitiated and for the philosopher; and 
he has rendered his details amusing and perspicuous, elegant as 
well as simple. Science appears, in his language, in a dress 
wonderfully decorous, best adapted to display her native love¬ 
liness. He has in no instance exhibited that false dignity by 
which philosophy is kept aloof from common applications; 
and he has sought rather to make her a useful inmate and ser¬ 
vant in the common habitations of man, than to preserve her 
merely as an object of admiration in temples and palaces.” * 

Perhaps the most judicious estimate of Franklin’s qualities 
as a man of letters is that by John Foster in the Eclectic 
Review for 1818. 

“It is unnecessary to remark,” he writes, “that Franklin 
was not so much a man of books as of affairs ; but he was not 
the less for that a speculative man. Every concern became an 
intellectual subject to a mind so acutely and perpetually atten¬ 
tive to the relation of. cause and effect. For enlargement of 
his sphere of speculation, his deficiency of literature, in the 
usual sense of the term, was excellently compensated by so 
wide an acquaintance with the world and with distinguished 
individuals of all ranks, professions and attainments. It 
may be, however, that a more bookish and contemplative 
employment of some portion of his life would have left one 
deficiency of his mental character less palpable. There appears 


* Sir Humphrey Davy. 


17 


to have been but little in that character of the element of sub¬ 
limity. We do not meet with many bright elevations of 
thought, or powerful, enchanting impulses of sentiment, or 
brilliant, transient glimpses of ideal worlds. Strong, indepen¬ 
dent, comprehensive, never remitting intelligence, proceeding 
on the plain ground of things, and acting in a manner always 
equal to, and never appearing at moments to surpass itself, 
constituted his mental power. In its operation it has no ris¬ 
ings and fallings, no disturbance into eloquence or poetry, no 
cloudiness of smoke indeed, but no darting flames. A conse¬ 
quence of this perfect uniformity is, that all subjects treated 
appear to be on a level, the loftiest and most insignificant 
being commented on in the same unalterable strain of calm, 
plain sense, which brings all things to its own standard, inso¬ 
much that a great subject shall sometimes seem to become less 
while it is elucidated and less commanding while it is 
enforced. In discoursing of serious subjects, Franklin imposes 
gravity on the reader, but does not excite solemnity, and 
on grand ones he never displays or inspires enthusiasm.” 

Although his works fill ten stately volumes, Franklin never 
wrote a book for publication. 

The “Autobiography ” was intended solely for the pleasure 
of his intimate friends. The savings of Poor Richard were 
prepared for his yearly Almanac, with purely utilitarian ends 
in view. His scientific discoveries were announced, with few 
exceptions, in letters to his friends, who printed them without 
his knowledge or consent. 

His political papers appeared in the newspapers and reviews, 
in letters, or prefaces, and in occasional pamphlets. Some of 
his brightest and most finished essays were set up and printed 
by his own hand, as broadsides, on a little printing-press which 
he had in his apartments while Minister to France. 


18 



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The matter-of-fact character of his early writings was 
largely due to his surroundings and to the people for whom he 
wrote. When at leisure in the society of cultivated people 
he soon yielded to their influence. His famous essay on the 
“ Way to Wealth,” for example, was written soon after his 
visit to Virginia and a somewhat intimate association with 
General Braddock and his staff. The first, and incomparably 
the best, part of his “Autobiography ” was written at the 
time of his most intimate connection with English literary 
society and while visiting at the country home of the Bishop 
of St. Asaph. The witty Bagatelles were produced in the 
midst of a brilliant Parisian circle. 

His contributions to science were the result of a period of 
voluntary seclusion and temporary respite from business cares 
which he had learned by his frugality and industry while 
printer and publisher. 

After he had acquired literary fame, he made use of it, to 
promote the welfare of his country. A French writer, de¬ 
scribing, in 1872, the events of nearly a century before, said: 

“ The coming of the famous American to Paris caused a 
profound sensation. Everybody wanted to see the author of 
the £ Almanach du Bonliomme Richardhis mind was com¬ 
pared to that of Cato, and his character to that of Socrates. 
Franklin knew full well how to take advantage of the impres¬ 
sion which he had produced upon a nation so impressionable 
as were the French, always ready to place their lives and their 
wealth at the service of a noble principle, and, following the 
example of Lacretelle, he decided to serve as ambassador not 
to a court but to a free and generous people.” 

He was by instinct a scholar and by inclination an author. 
He loved books for themselves. He became a vegetarian at 
the age of sixteen that he might buy them. 


19 


Some one has called attention to his “ remarkable affinity 
for superior people.” His affinity for the best of books was 
also remarkable, and no one was ever more sensitive to their 
influence. In the “ Autobiography ” he mentions the books 
which, as a boy, he liked to read, and it is easy to trace the 
effects of each upon his subsequent life. 

His literary style, though founded principally upon a tho¬ 
rough study of the Spectator , gave evidence at a very early 
day, of intimate acquaintance with Bunyan, Defoe, Plutarch, 
Rabelais and Xenophon. His philanthropic tendencies were 
shaped and strengthened by Cotton Mather’s “ Essays to do 
Good,” and his administrative faculties by Defoe’s “ Essay 
upon Projects.” Shaftesbury and Collins strongly influenced 
his theological opinions. Locke’s “ Essay on the Human Un¬ 
derstanding” moulded his habits of thought, as did also the 
“ Memorabilia ” of Xenophon. 

Franklin has been called the founder of modern utilitarian¬ 
ism, but it is unjust and ungenerous to place this estimate 
upon his character. He knew the world in which he lived, 
and the people for whom he wrote. His aim was to produce 
immediate and practical results. His precepts were written 
for the unthinking, the inexperienced and the selfish. Poor 
Richard was a kindergarten teacher. 

In his advice in regard to the treatment of the aged, for 
example, he reminded his readers that they would themselves 
in their own last years need care and indulgence, but he also 
first appealed to motives the loftiest and tenderest. Whoever 
studies Franklin in a generous spirit, will find no lack of gen¬ 
erous thought and principle 3 , 

Like Socrates, Franklin estimated the value of every action 
by its utility. Moral utility was to him, however, the high¬ 
est test of value. He believed that the promotion of universal 


20 


happiness, by the prevention or mitigation of evil, was man’s 
highest function. “ He seems,” says Weems, “to have been 
all eye, all ear, all touch, to every thing that affected human 
happiness,” and he died with his eyes fixed upon “ the picture 
of Him who came into the world to teach men to love one 
another. On his death-bed he often returned thanks to God 
for having so kindly cast his lot of life in the very time of all 
others when he would have chosen to live for the great pur¬ 
poses of usefulness and pleasure.” 

Is there in history a more touching memory than that of 
Franklin awaiting the coming of death, the venerable sage, 
the pride and glory of his own land, the admiration of Eu¬ 
rope, making excuses for the moanings which were occasion¬ 
ally forced from him by the severity of his pains—afraid that 
he did not bear them as he ought, while he observed his 
grateful sense of the many blessings he had received from the 
Supreme Being, who had raised him from small and low 
beginnings to such high rank and consideration among men. 

I have already said that nothing was further from his 
thoughts than to obtain for himself literary fame. He took no 
care of his own writings, and made no effort to secure the pub¬ 
lication of them. And still, a century after his death, he stands 
prominently forth as the only great literary man of America 
in colonial days and in the first fifty years of the Republic. 

No one who has held in his hand a copy of Franklin’s edi¬ 
tion of Cicero’s “Cato Major” can doubt that the man who 
made it had the soul of an artist. No one who has read his 
tender and exquisitely graceful preface to this beautiful edi¬ 
tion can question that he had the heart of a poet, and the 
touch of a master of letters. 

When twenty-five he founded a great public library, the 
earliest in America, that others as well as he might enjoy the 
companionship of books. 




21 


Books were always in liis mind and by his side. He com¬ 
pared his own life to a book. At the age of eighty-three he 
wrote: 

“ Hitherto this long life has been tolerably happy ; so that, 
if I were allowed to live it over again, I should make no ob¬ 
jection, only wishing for leave to do, what others do in a sec¬ 
ond edition of their works—correct some of my errata .' 1 ' 1 

His “ Autobiography,” written in the same spirit, noted the 
“errata ” in its author’s career with true printer’s interest, as if 
he were scanning a bundle of proof sheets. He did not con¬ 
ceal them, but marked them so that all could see, frankly con¬ 
fessed his errors, and did what he could in atonement. 

Jefferson desired that his monument should declare that he 
was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the 
founder of a great university. Franklin, in his will, sought 
no higher title than that of printer. A maker of books he 
had been for three-quarters of a century, and a friend and 
lover of literature even longer. The epitaph, written by his 
own hand for his tomb, which can never become trite by repe¬ 
tition, is full of the spirit of the great printer. 

“THE BODY 
OF 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, 

PRINTER, 

(LIKE THE COVER OF AN OLD BOOK, 

ITS CONTENTS TORN OUT, 

AND STRIPT OF ITS LETTERING AND GILDING,) 

LIES HERE FOOD FOR WORMS, 

YET THE WORK ITSELF SHALL NOT BE LOST, 

FOR IT WILL, AS BE BELIEVED, APPEAR ONCE MORE, 

IN A NEW 

AND MORE BEAUTIFUL EDITION, 

CORRECTED AND AMENDED 
BY 


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